Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance's Goose Pond Sanctuary is teeming with wildlife, and in the early fall, that includes migrating monarch butterflies. These beautiful insects are making their way from Wisconsin (or even further north) all the way down to Mexico where they overwinter and rest before starting their journey back north in the spring. This migration is an incredible feat, and one that scientists have been studying for decades.
Monarch tagging is the act of safely catching monarchs, placing tiny stickers with a unique number code in a specific part of their wing, and releasing them to continue on their journey south. In the winter, our counterparts in Mexico look for monarchs with these stickers and record the numbers. The project was begun by Monarch Watch out of the University of Kansas, and is now done throughout the country. SoWBA has been tagging monarchs for many years!
We will teach you how to safely catch, handle, tag, and release a monarch, all in the name of science and love of nature.
Questions? Contact Brenna Marsicek, bmarsicek@swibirds.org or 608-255-2473
AGE REQUIREMENT:
Children must be 10 years old or older to fully participate (use a net and handle a butterfly), though children ages 5-9 are welcome to join in, run through the prairie with their grown ups, and observe the tagging.
ALL SESSIONS:
Saturday, September 6, 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Saturday, September 6, 1:00-3:30 PM
Wednesday, September 10, 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Wednesday, September 10, 1:00-3:30 PM
Saturday, September 13, 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Saturday, September 13, 1:00-3:30 PM
DETAILS:
Registration is required and gives you access to one session of activities, including information about monarch life history, monarch pursuit and tagging, information on how to track your monarchs, and ideas for how to support monarchs at home.
Space is limited to 25 people per session.
There are multiple sessions for monarch tagging. Please be sure to attend the one you register for.
Please limit your ticket purchase to 6, to allow others to get in on the fun as well.
APPROXIMATE DISTANCE: 0-3 miles (a vehicle is available to transport individuals who aren’t comfortable walking)
Header photo by Kaitlin Svabek / SoWBA
